It was bound to happen eventually, right? The honeymoon phase is officially over for Bears kicker Eddy Pineiro, who had his worst outing as a Bear when they needed him the most.
On a windy Chicago afternoon, Pineiro stepped up to kick the game-winning 41-yard field goal. He’d been there once before — in Denver when he booted a 53-yarder to save the Bears’ season. Or so we thought at the time.
It was a perfect snap and perfect hold, but the ball went just wide left of the goal post, and there was a sinking feeling as the Bears lost their third straight game to fall to 3-4 on what was once a promising season.
Despite Pineiro’s missed opportunity, Bears coach Matt Nagy believes in Pineiro moving forward.
“I have ultimate faith in him,” Nagy said. “I do. It just happens to be in our situation, it just gets completely magnified because of where we’ve been before.”
That “situation” being Cody Parkey’s double-doink missed field goals that might’ve ended any hopes of a Bears Super Bowl run, looking at how things are transpiring this season.
Although, earlier in the game, Pineiro doinked a 33-yard field goal off the upright in the first quarter, a sign of what was to come. While Pineiro made three other field goals, he missed two important ones, including what should’ve been the game-winner.
Pineiro, who had just one miss in the six previous games, is now 12-of-15 on the season.
